The CAS Recognition of Excellence in Education Reception will be held on November 30th at the Aqua Turf in Southington. This high-profile event allows members to spotlight an exemplary program and/or outstanding staff members that have brought about significant school improvement, promoted school success or had a positive impact on the school. The reception will include appetizers, cocktails, musical entertainment and an awards ceremony. Please plan to attend with your staff!

CAS, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, will offer its well-received Principals' Leadership Series (PLS) again this school year. The structure of the series has been altered to allow greater flexibility for busy practitioners. This year's sessions will be morning-only and will address a variety of leadership topics and skills needed by today's educational leader. The first two sessions will focus on providing effective written and verbal feedback for teacher growth. Three additional workshops, planned for later in the school year, will examine leadership for cultural competency, effective stakeholder engagement and adult learning as applied to teacher growth.

Elementary and middle school teachers are invited to CAS on December 8th for a morning workshop with Anne Kubitsky, CEO and founder of the Look For The Good Project. Anne’s research-backed program is founded on the core belief that gratitude is the keystone to building positive relationships. Anne will reveal how gratitude practices can support character education initiatives and instructional pedagogy and positively impact student behavior and classroom climate.

Are there members of your faculty who have the potential to be strong school leaders? If so, please pass along this flyer detailing three upcoming information sessions about the University of Connecticut Administrator Preparation Program (UCAPP). The Neag School of Education and CAS have collaborated to develop this nationally recognized program that combines rigorous course work with a robust internship experience to prepare candidates for successful school building and central office level leadership. The combined resources of the university and CAS, the personal attention that each student receives, and the quality of the classroom learning experience set the UCAPP program apart from all other preparation institutions in Connecticut. We hope that you will encourage your most promising teachers to consider the UCAPP program as the next step in their career ladder.

CAS is looking for volunteers to present at the annual middle level leadership conference to be held on January 11th at Trinity College. This year's theme is “Imagination & Action” and breakout sessions will focus on four areas of interest: building a climate of acceptance; making a difference at school; taking risks and rising to the occasion; and social networking. If you have experience in one of these areas and are willing to share it with a diverse group of middle level student leaders from across Connecticut, please volunteer to be a part of our conference team!

On November 1st, CAS and the Connecticut Council for Education Reform (CCER) will present “The High School Principal: Leading for Innovation” at the Sheraton Hartford South in Rocky Hill, CT. The conference will examine topics and issues that high school principals are grappling with as they endeavor to improve teaching and learning in their schools. The keynote speaker will be Baruti Kafele, a former high school principal who successfully transformed four low-performing urban high schools in New Jersey. Dr. Douglas Reeves, renowned author and international expert on school reform, will discuss the latest research on how high impact leadership can improve schools.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education issued a supplemental notice of proposed rule making which continues a multi-year effort to revise regulations regarding teacher preparation programs. Read about this and other recent developments on Capitol Hill in this month’s federal relations update courtesy of Michael Litke.

Thanks to a grant program sponsored by SaveOnEnergy.com®, teachers can win $500 for their classrooms. K-8 teachers are invited to submit lesson plans for helping students learn about energy or sustainability. Six winners will be awarded $500 grants, in the form of reward cards, to be used toward classroom materials and activities. Winners' lesson plans will be featured on SaveOnEnergy.com for other teachers to use as resources for their classrooms.